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Tánshè
Tánshè is a British robot which competed in the first season of King of Bots, and Season 1.5, the debut of This is Fighting Robots. It was entered by a combination of the British Team Legion and Team Hurtz, alongside newcomer Samantha France. Gabriel Stroud was the team captain and weapon operator. John Reid designed and drove the robot, while Alan Cannon hand-crafted many parts of the robot, and Samantha France assisted with repairs. The name Tánshè is Mandarin for "catapult". Tánshè achieved two consecutive knockouts against Dark Knight and Hammerhead Shark in the first two rounds of Season 1, before falling to the destructive Great White. Tánshè was also able to collect a Tag Team win over Saber and Greedy Snake, alongside Vulcan. In Season 1.5, Tánshè was selected by Zheng Shuang, allowing it to advance to the main bracket, where it threw Saber II and Orby Blade out of the arena in the same battle. Design Tánshè is a low wedge driven by two wheels, with its speed geared to 17mph for maximum control and acceleration from its 48V AmpFlow motors. The robot is armed with a broad flipper, which blends into the robot's appearance. The weapon was powered by nitrogen (season 1) and CO2 (1.5), resulting in 7 tonnes of power at the ram, and 2 tonnes at the tip of the flipper. This could launch other robots up, and also provide Tánshè with a self-righting mechanism. The team could adjust the power at which the weapon fired, to conserve gas for pivotal flips. The robot's outer shell was constructed from HARDOX. At the center of the robot is an 'eye', an electric light piercing out of the robot's shell. According to Gabriel Stroud on his podcast Inside the Bot, the robot was built at an extreme cost of £35,000. Tánshè incorporates design elements of many robots built by Team Legion and John Reid, most noticeably Gabriel Stroud's featherweight flipper Legion. The team's robots such as Terrorhurtz, Beta and Sabretooth all contributed design elements to Tánshè. For This is Fighting Robots Tánshè was altered to have four wheel drive instead of its prior 2WD. To get the 3kg needed to convert Tánshè to 4WD, Team Legion reduced the robot's bottom armor from 8mm to 6mm aluminium. In addition, the robot had lighter bulkheads, and also as a result of this switch a wheel has to be removed to swap out the Co2 tank.https://www.facebook.com/tanshekob/posts/1833658356708138 The outward appearance of Tánshè was largely unchanged in Season 1.5, but now featured a red stripe piercing down the robot. Robot History King of Bots (Season 1) In the first round, Tánshè faced an invertible 8000rpm drum spinner, Dark Knight. Gabriel Stroud strategized that Tánshè should strand the robot against the wall for a knockout win. Tánshè exited its square rapidly and drove straight under Dark Knight to reach its back end. Tánshè then manoeuvred Dark Knight into the spikes on the wall. Tánshè drove under the drum of Dark Knight, and sparks were thrown as the wedge made contact with the spinner, but Tánshè flipped Dark Knight back into the spikes. Dark Knight meandered in the center of the arena, so Tánshè circled around and then rammed into the side of it. It was evident that Tánshè had the lower ground clearance, as it breached the wedge of Dark Knight, and later flipped it over, albeit not with a full-pressure flip. Dark Knight landed on Tánshè and made contact with its drum, as Tánshè pushed it towards the spiked walls, sustaining damage. Tánshè flicked the Dark Knight up, but not over. Finally, Tánshè moved into a position where it could launch Dark Knight into the arena wall with a full-pressure flip. As Dark Knight was stuck on the rail, unable to break free, Tánshè drove around the arena in celebration, flipping itself over, until Dark Knight was counted out, awarding Tánshè the win. Tánshè had qualified for the second round, where it fought another drum spinner in Hammerhead Shark. Team Legion were confident going into the battle, and repainted Tánshè. Within the opening seconds of the battle, Hammerhead Shark's team activated a smokescreen in front of Team Legion to obscure their vision, so the British team did the same, preventing both teams from seeing the battle. Regardless, Tánshè was able to drive under Hammerhead Shark and flip it onto its drum, where it then toppled onto the spikes on the arena wall. After Tánshè had previously defeated Dark Knight in this manner, Team Legion held off while the smoke cleared, and expected to win the battle by knockout. Tánshè spun in circles in the center of the arena, celebrating a prompt 'victory', but despite the referee reaching 9 in his knockout count, Hammerhead Shark escaped from the wall and attacked the spinning Tánshè. Panicking, Tánshè flipped itself over, and was forced to self-right. This allowed Hammerhead Shark to hit the front of Tánshè directly, and tear away various pieces from it. Tánshè attempted to self-right, but it was too close to the wall, and landed on its back again, losing more parts. Tánshè self-righted, while Hammerhead Shark knocked a loose gear of Tánshè's towards the commentators. Tánshè started to recover, and drove under Hammerhead Shark to then flip it over. With a huge flip, Tánshè then launched Hammerhead Shark into the plexiglass screen straight in front of the commentators, and again into the spiked wall. Keeping up the pressure, Tánshè then flipped Hammerhead Shark onto the top of the arena hammer, and sent it spiralling forwards with another flip. Tánshè tossed Hammerhead Shark back into the spikes, although its next flip was noticeably weaker. Tánshè shepherded Hammerhead Shark towards the corner of the arena, and attempted to lift it over the wall, but lacked the necessary power. It made another attempt, and this time flipped Hammerhead Shark directly into the wall, but not over. In its retreat, Tánshè then drove over a floor flipper and was overturned. It self-righted, but expended gas in doing so, and then wasted more resources by flipping itself over, taking two attempts to self-right near the grinder. Hammerhead Shark's drum had slowed but it still pressed a loose piece of armor against Tánshè. Within the last thirty seconds, Tánshè started to rely on its pushing power, pressing Hammerhead Shark against the spikes, although Gabriel Stroud advised that John Reid take Hammerhead Shark to the corner of the arena. Tánshè only had enough CO2 on board for one last flip, but it used this well, and flipped Hammerhead Shark over the wall in the corner, putting it out of the arena with barely twenty seconds left on the clock. The team celebrated their win, and progressed to the third round. In the third round, Tánshè fought Great White, entered by an Australian team which also contained a Robot Wars competitor known for building drum spinners, like Gabriel Stroud. Tánshè was modified for this battle to feature a long spike on the flipper, to increase the robot's chances of driving under Great White for the knockout flip. Tánshè zoomed off the mark and deflected Great White's minibot Remora into the air, shunting Great White into the side spikes. The impact caused Great White's fragile sides to splinter and fragment, pieces of metal and plastic strewn across the arena. Tánshè pressured Great White against the side of the arena, the heavy blade chewing the paint away and leaving deep scratches. Tánshè did not flip its opponent, and backed off for another attack, throwing Remora again, but as Great White continued to smash at the front wedge it became apparent that the flipper was bending out of place from the repeat hits. Tánshè flipped itself over and with its flipper buckled, struggled to self-right, though it did eventually do so. Its flipper wedge now bent almost perpendicular to the arena floor, Tánshè kept the pressure on, Great White momentarily impeded by the arena spikes and against the side walls. Tánshè pushed the speedy Remora into Great White's blade, smashing its wheel and limiting the minibot's effectiveness. However, Great White showed no signs of slowing down, whilst Tánshè's effectiveness was impeded, and Great White succeeded in tearing off the side panel. Great White kept up the attack, tearing off another side panel and landing a terminal blow that immobilized Tánshè, eliminating it at this stage. A slightly tearful Gabriel Stroud and his teammates were congratulated on a strong performance. In a Tag Team battle filmed at the end of the series, Tánshè teamed up with a fellow British robot, Vulcan, to battle the Chinese robots Saber and Greedy Snake. While the four robots gathered, Tánshè sandwiched Saber against the other robots, forcing it to fire its flipper at thin air. While Vulcan focused on Saber, Tánshè launched Greedy Snake into the plexiglass wall, and then flipped Saber in the same manner. In doing so, Tánshè exposed its back end to Greedy Snake, which picked it up and held it aloft. Tánshè fired its flipper in an effort to escape, but Greedy Snake maintained its balance and carried Tánshè into a Grinder. Vulcan fought a private battle with Saber, while Greedy Snake turned Tánshè over and released it, forcing Tánshè to self-right powerfully. Tánshè then caught Saber from behind and threw it over, where it slid towards the wall. Greedy Snake charged in to assist it, but Tánshè and Vulcan both trapped the Chinese team there. Vulcan landed two axe blows on the chassis of Saber, while Greedy Snake once again grabbed Tánshè, prompting Vulcan to pound the top of Greedy Snake, including its weapon system, throwing sparks. Greedy Snake was able to pick up Tánshè and turn it over, but Vulcan prevented Saber's self-righting by trapping it under the spikes on the arena wall. Vulcan pinned Greedy Snake against the arena wall, but while Saber struggled its way out of its current position, Tánshè launched it into the corner of the arena. From there, Tánshè flipped Saber onto the arena wall, under the hammer, before releasing it from the wall in a sportsmanlike move. While Tánshè flipped Saber again, Vulcan slammed into Greedy Snake, and the Chinese robot responded by driving it across the arena, towards the Grinder. Tánshè was still hounding Saber in the corner of the arena, but Saber eventually escaped, and Tánshè drove onto the floor flipper, which threw it over. Greedy Snake drove under Vulcan's wedge and edged it backwards, while Tánshè self-righted. In a head-to-head collision, Saber's wedge breached Tánshè's, but Tánshè pinned Saber against the wall, with Greedy Snake also making the same move on Vulcan. Saber lightly flicked Tánshè up, but Tánshè then threw Greedy Snake into the air powerfully. All four robots bumped into one another, until Tánshè threw Saber over, this time leaving it idle, as Saber lacked the power to self-right. Vulcan drove over the arena saws, and Tánshè mistimed a flip to throw itself over, while the clock displayed the final ten seconds. Greedy Snake held Tánshè against the arena floor as the battle timer elapsed, and the battle was sent to a Judges' decision. The immobility of Saber at the very end of the battle proved costly for the Chinese team, and the Judges awarded the win to Tánshè and Vulcan. This is Fighting Robots (Season 1.5) Tánshè was the second robot to be selected by Zheng Shuang, allowing captain Gabriel Stroud to influence the host into picking robots that he favoured, in order to build the strongest possible team of five robots. Stroud successfully convinced her to select Tungsten and Megabyte, alongside her existing choice of Spectre, forming a very strong team. This allowed Tánshè to advance to the main bracket, where it fought Saber II and Orby Blade. Tánshè immediately charged into Orby Blade, which was attempting to spin up its weapon, but missed, driving under Saber II instead. When Orby Blade voluntarily attacked Tánshè, the South Korean machine was thrown into the air. Tánshè capitalized by sweeping under Orby Blade to take it to the corner of the arena, and threw it over the wall. Tánshè then caught a reversing Saber II, and pushed it along the wall while underneath its wedge. Saber II broke free, but could not flee from the quicker Tánshè machine, which pressured Saber II towards the opposite corner of the arena. Tánshè lunged Saber II into the air, and it landed on the wall in the corner of the arena for a second immediate knockout, to the celebrations of Team Legion. Results |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 4 *Losses: 1 Series Record Outside King of Bots Gabriel Stroud and Alan Cannon Gabriel Stroud and Alan Cannon are both members of Team Legion, who have competed in Series 5-6 and 8-10 in the British TV show Robot Wars, although Alan Cannon was only present for Series 9 and 10. They did so with [http://robotwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sabretooth Sabretooth], which started its career slowly, failing to accrue a single combat win in its first three series. It improved upon this record in Series 9, winning two battles to reach the Heat Final, and Sabretooth also finished third within its heat in Series 10 before representing the United Kingdom in Robot Wars: World Series. Gabriel Stroud also mentored Yorkshire Olympians, the Brownlee Brothers, as they competed with [http://robotwars.wikia.com/wiki/JAR JAR] in one of the Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars celebrity specials. Team Legion's featherweights Django and Legion are both successful competitors on the featherweight circuit. Both robots competed at the Featherweight World Championship in 2016, where Legion did not experience high success, but Django reached the Grand Final, placing second after being flipped out of the arena by Explosion. Gabriel Stroud acquired the successful featherweight drum spinner 720, which he has rebranded as Sabre20. His heavyweight Sabretooth also briefly competed as Atom, using a white color-scheme similar to Tánshè, before Series 10 of Robot Wars had aired. Alongside Will Sedgwick, Gabriel Stroud hosts the robotics podcast Inside the Bot, which covers King of Bots alongside other robotic combat shows. John Reid John Reid is the captain of Team Hurtz, veterans of both BattleBots and Robot Wars. He first competed in Robot Wars with [http://robotwars.wikia.com/wiki/Killerhurtz Killerhurtz], although despite receiving a seeding, Killerhurtz was largely unsuccessful, only winning one battle in the main competitions despite entering three series. It was, however, much more successful in BattleBots, finishing as the runner-up in its untelevised event at Long Beach in 1999. It competed in the four following series, and never failed to win at least one battle. Reid's second machine was [http://robotwars.wikia.com/wiki/Terrorhurtz Terrorhurtz], which competed exclusively in Robot Wars. In only its second series, it reached the Grand Final during the sixth series, and placed fourth out of 96. However, Terrorhurtz was disqualified from Series 7 due to arriving in an unfinished state, and then it competed regularly across Series 8, 9 and 10, without progressing beyond the Heat Final. John Reid also mentored rapper Jordan Stephens, who competed with [http://robotwars.wikia.com/wiki/Dee Dee] in one episode of Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars. John Reid, alongside Grant Cooper, competed in ABC's second season of BattleBots with [http://battlebots.wikia.com/wiki/Beta Beta], which made a cameo appearance in King of Bots. It initially attempted to enter Season 5.0 and the first season of ABC's reboot, both seasons being decades apart, but withdrew from both due to various complications. In its competitive run, Beta reached the final eight of ABC BattleBots Season 2, defeating Lucky, Overhaul and Nightmare before losing to the eventual champion Tombstone. Under the moniker of Basher, the robot also competed in the pilot episode of Robot Wars: Series 8, filmed in 2016. Sabretooth and Terrorhurtz fought each other three times in Robot Wars, with Terrorhurtz emerging victorious in Series 6 (2002), and Sabretooth emerging victorious in Series 9 (2017). Both robots also participated in the 10 Robot Rumble during Series 10, and then fought as a combined team in Robot Wars: World Series in order to defeat international entries Diotoir and Rabid M8. The latter event eventually lead to the two teams collaborating. Trivia *At a build cost of £35,000, Tánshè is one of the most expensive robots in the competition. *The King of Bots website refers to the team name as "Enemy Alliance"http://kobchina.com/robot/71, but Gabriel Stroud has confirmed that Team Legion is the accurate name. *The team's decision to build a flipper was made as a result of neither Gabriel Stroud or John Reid building a flipper in the past - Stroud's speciality was drum spinners, while John Reid typically builds robots with axes and hammers. References External Links *[http://kobchina.com/robot/71 Tánshè on the King of Bots website] *Tanshe 弹射 - KOB 铁甲雄心 Facebook page *Team Sabretooth Twitter Category:King of Bots competitors Category:Season 1 competitors Category:Robots with rear-hinged flippers Category:Robots from the United Kingdom Category:Robots which have thrown an opponent out of the arena Category:Robots with more Wins than Losses Category:Tag Team Competitors Category:Season 1.5 competitors Category:Robots whose final appearance resulted in a win